Yesterday the ex-Celtic and Scotland star was hit with one he probably didn’t see coming.

MacLeod was a hard-hitting midfielder who never held back.

But the telly pundit was on the receiving end of a no-holds-barred dull-one from someone as equally competitive on the field of play.

Neil Lennon has taken exception to comments made by the 54-year-old after Celtic’s defeat to St Mirren in Sunday’s League Cup semi-final.

And the Hoops boss quickly moved in to tackle MacLeod like it was a breaking 50-50 ball.

Lennon — who later tweeted he didn’t miss his target — said: “I think I have a right to be critical.

“I think I am the ONLY one really who has a right to be critical of the team when they perform like that.

“Now, supporters can have their say. But I am not overly enamoured with people, columnists, yada yada yada, having a go at the team.

“They seem to come out of their shell when we lose a game, with the usual sycophantic lines and cliches like ‘I feel sorry for the fans who have spent their hard-earned cash, blah blah blah’.

“They don’t really care about the fans’ hard-earned cash at all.

“I am not going to name names. His opening line was ‘tolose one treble is careless, to lose two is whatever’.

“It was as if winning a treble is as easy as shelling peas. I am not happy with it.

“He is trying to drive a wedge between players and the fans with that comment about the hard-earned cash. For me, this team has given value for money this season.

“And they have done for the last couple of years — they have been by far the most entertaining team.

“I think they have played the best football and we’ve been on a regular basis to semi-finals and finals and challenging for the league. And we have spent very little.

“So for people like that to come out and have a pop — and you never see him here unless Henrik is about the place — it irks me.

“I’m sure he didn’t spend any money going to the ground and getting to the game.

“I don’t like that, when they try to drive a wedge and get on their high horse and moralise to everyone when they know how difficult it is.

“There are only two managers who have won a treble in the history of this club, so I think that speaks volumes for how difficult it is.”

Lennon didn’t hold back himself when he criticised his team. He let rip, insisting the performance against St Mirren at Hampden was soulless.

He added: “If we play as poorly as that I think I have every right to be hard on them.

“I can’t hide behind it or pull the wool over people’s eyes, people see it for what it is. The players know that.

“It is very rarely I am disappointed or angry with the players and when they do well I sing their praises from the rooftops. They know when it is not acceptable.”

One of the biggest disappointments for Lennon came from Charlie Mulgrew’s penalty miss. The game was locked at 1-1 with Celtic looking likely to go on and win.

But instead of blasting the spot-kick with power, Mulgrew opted to place it, with Buddies keeper Craig Samson pulling off a save.

Shaking his head, Lenny added: “It’s driving me crazy, the number of penalties we’ve missed in my time here.

“It makes me angry. What they can do is do what they practise. Because it seems to me that some of them change their run up or change their minds before the penalty.

“I was sitting there thinking ‘c’mon then Charlie’.

“You expect to see the bar rattle or the net bulge, not to see him dally up and sidefoot it — because I’ve never seen Charlie sidefoot anything.

“Charlie is as good with a dead ball as you will see. You expect him to address the ball, run up with the conviction he normally takes set pieces with, and put all sorts on it.

“I don’t know why he didn’t do it — I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Now I am not going to blame Charlie, because he’s been absolutely magnificent, but it is just decision-making, and our decision-making on Sunday, a high percentage was poor.

“Paul McGowan’s wasn’t a great penalty either, if Lukasz goes the right way then he’ll save it.

“I don’t like those kind of penalties — I much prefer Kris Commons’ against Spartak. One which is whipped low and away from the goalkeeper, that’s basically what we practise.”

Lennon’s Celtic face Kilmarnock at Parkhead tonight in their last game before the transfer window slams shut. Hoops fans just hope it’s not the last time they get to see Gary Hooper in their team.

Norwich are preparing another bid for the hitman with Lennon admitting he feels vulnerable.

Lennon added: “People are working hard down the road, maybe to unsettle the player for their own reasons.

“I have left Gary to it. I spoke to him a week to ten days ago. He’s playing brilliantly, it hasn’t affected him.

“Everyone has a price but the timing would be so wrong for everything we want to push forward with.

“This is the difficulty of the transfer window, you only have a certain space of time, there is a lot of uncertainly. All managers probably feel a bit vulnerable.”